Intel 865 GBF Random Freeze / Reboot Issue

Config
Intel 3.0 Ghz HT 478 pin CPU (HT - Prescott)
Intel 865 GBF board
2 512 MB Simmtronics 400 Mhz DDR - in Dual channel Config
1 40 Gb Samsung HDD - ATA
1 80 GB Samsung HDD - ATA
1 Sony DVD Rom
1 LG DVD Ram
128 MB AGP nVida 4000 MX
100 MBps LAN Card - Realtech
Wifi 802.11g Card - Netgear
Frontech TV Tuner Card -- old not used.
Onboard Sound & Video.
450 W Power Supply - Root -
Thermally advantaged iBall Box - Cabinet fan is not on variable speed
but works from direct power supply connector.

System is 2 yrs old.

System reboots / Freezes at random intervals . Between 2 Mins to 4-5
Hrs
Has even shown this behaviour during Boot up.
These issues started 2 months back.

Diagnostics Done
Tried with madrake 10 / Win 2000 pro & XP pro. Similar Behaviour
Ran memtest 86 for 8 hrs - No errors detected - except for one reboot
in between
Used Si- Soft Sandra to run complete diagnostic suite all Ok
Burn in tests on Sandra - Sometimes Reboots / Freezes except that all
ok.
Flashed Bios with Latest update.
CPU temp in range od 42C (at boot time) to 67- 70 C while running -
Using Speedfan to diagnose speeds.
CPU Fan runs at 2650 RPM - Using Speedfan.
Speed Fan cannot change CPU Fan's Speed ( This is the major change from
before - eairlier the fan speed used to change as the cpu got hotter I
could hear the inreased speeds - Speed used to go upto 3500 rpm)
Checked with stripped down setup - Only one memchip / one hdd - all
other peripherals removed no effect.
Tried swapping components - have changed everything except the CPU &
Mobo - still have the issue with every combination possible.

Can anyone provide any hints ,clues , or some diagnostic on solving
this almost baffaling mystery.

Regards
Abhishek

On 21 Dec 2006 01:10:33 -0800, "abhishek" wrote:

Config
Intel 3.0 Ghz HT 478 pin CPU (HT - Prescott)
Intel 865 GBF board
2 512 MB Simmtronics 400 Mhz DDR - in Dual channel Config
1 40 Gb Samsung HDD - ATA
1 80 GB Samsung HDD - ATA
1 Sony DVD Rom
1 LG DVD Ram
128 MB AGP nVida 4000 MX
100 MBps LAN Card - Realtech
Wifi 802.11g Card - Netgear
Frontech TV Tuner Card -- old not used.
Onboard Sound & Video.
450 W Power Supply - Root -
Thermally advantaged iBall Box - Cabinet fan is not on variable speed
but works from direct power supply connector.

System is 2 yrs old.

System reboots / Freezes at random intervals . Between 2 Mins to 4-5
Hrs
Has even shown this behaviour during Boot up.
These issues started 2 months back.

Diagnostics Done
Tried with madrake 10 / Win 2000 pro & XP pro. Similar Behaviour
Ran memtest 86 for 8 hrs - No errors detected - except for one reboot
in between
Used Si- Soft Sandra to run complete diagnostic suite all Ok
Burn in tests on Sandra - Sometimes Reboots / Freezes except that all
ok.
Flashed Bios with Latest update.
CPU temp in range od 42C (at boot time) to 67- 70 C while running -
Using Speedfan to diagnose speeds.
CPU Fan runs at 2650 RPM - Using Speedfan.
Speed Fan cannot change CPU Fan's Speed ( This is the major change from
before - eairlier the fan speed used to change as the cpu got hotter I
could hear the inreased speeds - Speed used to go upto 3500 rpm)
Checked with stripped down setup - Only one memchip / one hdd - all
other peripherals removed no effect.
Tried swapping components - have changed everything except the CPU &
Mobo - still have the issue with every combination possible.

Can anyone provide any hints ,clues , or some diagnostic on solving


Have you examined the caps on the mainboard? If any of the little
cans are bulging or leaking, time for a mainboard. Did you swap the
power supply? They can develop problems as well.

"abhishek" wrote in message
ps.com...
Config
Intel 3.0 Ghz HT 478 pin CPU (HT - Prescott)
Intel 865 GBF board
2 512 MB Simmtronics 400 Mhz DDR - in Dual channel Config
1 40 Gb Samsung HDD - ATA
1 80 GB Samsung HDD - ATA
1 Sony DVD Rom
1 LG DVD Ram
128 MB AGP nVida 4000 MX
100 MBps LAN Card - Realtech
Wifi 802.11g Card - Netgear
Frontech TV Tuner Card -- old not used.
Onboard Sound & Video.
450 W Power Supply - Root -
Thermally advantaged iBall Box - Cabinet fan is not on variable speed
but works from direct power supply connector.

System is 2 yrs old.

System reboots / Freezes at random intervals . Between 2 Mins to 4-5
Hrs

Have you checked your Event Viewer for possible
Apps or System faults ??.

doggy tuner drivers
remove the card and test
turn off 'auto reboot on errors' in windows so you can see the blue screen

system properties / advanced / startup recovery

"abhishek" wrote in message
ps.com...
Config
Intel 3.0 Ghz HT 478 pin CPU (HT - Prescott)
Intel 865 GBF board
2 512 MB Simmtronics 400 Mhz DDR - in Dual channel Config
1 40 Gb Samsung HDD - ATA
1 80 GB Samsung HDD - ATA
1 Sony DVD Rom
1 LG DVD Ram
128 MB AGP nVida 4000 MX
100 MBps LAN Card - Realtech
Wifi 802.11g Card - Netgear
Frontech TV Tuner Card -- old not used.
Onboard Sound & Video.
450 W Power Supply - Root -
Thermally advantaged iBall Box - Cabinet fan is not on variable speed
but works from direct power supply connector.

System is 2 yrs old.

System reboots / Freezes at random intervals . Between 2 Mins to 4-5
Hrs
Has even shown this behaviour during Boot up.
These issues started 2 months back.

Diagnostics Done
Tried with madrake 10 / Win 2000 pro & XP pro. Similar Behaviour
Ran memtest 86 for 8 hrs - No errors detected - except for one reboot
in between
Used Si- Soft Sandra to run complete diagnostic suite all Ok
Burn in tests on Sandra - Sometimes Reboots / Freezes except that all
ok.
Flashed Bios with Latest update.
CPU temp in range od 42C (at boot time) to 67- 70 C while running -
Using Speedfan to diagnose speeds.
CPU Fan runs at 2650 RPM - Using Speedfan.
Speed Fan cannot change CPU Fan's Speed ( This is the major change from
before - eairlier the fan speed used to change as the cpu got hotter I
could hear the inreased speeds - Speed used to go upto 3500 rpm)
Checked with stripped down setup - Only one memchip / one hdd - all
other peripherals removed no effect.
Tried swapping components - have changed everything except the CPU &
Mobo - still have the issue with every combination possible.

Can anyone provide any hints ,clues , or some diagnostic on solving
this almost baffaling mystery.

Regards
Abhishek

Responding to all the suggestions
1. Checked MOBO quite thoroughly - Nothing seems to be Buldging/
Leaking
2. No entries which seem to be even remotely suspicious in Event
Viewer.( Only Warnigs seem to be of an IP conflict)
3. Have The Tuner card is just put into the system without any drivers
loaded. (dont want to have an empty spce in the back to the box to let
all the dust in) Dont even have XP/2k drivers for this extremely old
card (

4. Noticed one thing when the case was open - The BIOS chip (which is
soldered onto the board) was getting quite hot. And there is no temp
sensor near that chip so this would not get noticed . Planning to put
an old Heatsink I have lying around on this and then check it out .

Yup tried swapping the PSU as well - the 450W one is a spanking new
PSU. Had a 300W one eairlier.

Reboot on errors is switched off (One of the first settings I change
after an os install) No blue screens just Freeze & Reboot (

abhishek wrote:

Reboot on errors is switched off (One of the first settings I change
after an os install) No blue screens just Freeze & Reboot (

Looks like a motherboard problem given the other
stuff like the lack of anything in the error logs.

Unlikely to be the power supply because unless you have the
bios configured to start on power on, a glitch in the power
supply shouldnt produce a reboot, just a shutdown at most.

Ran the M/c yesterday with a Heatsink on the Bios (entire M/C laid out
on the table) and it ran well enuff for a couple of hrs.
I guess that is the answer - - Faulty bios.
Flashed the bios with the latest one from the intel site . then removed
the heatsink - And -- Freeze . Guess I will have to replace the Mobo.

Maybe its time to upgrade to dual core



Rod Speed wrote:
abhishek wrote:

Reboot on errors is switched off (One of the first settings I change
after an os install) No blue screens just Freeze & Reboot (

Looks like a motherboard problem given the other
stuff like the lack of anything in the error logs.

Unlikely to be the power supply because unless you have the
bios configured to start on power on, a glitch in the power
supply shouldnt produce a reboot, just a shutdown at most.

abhishek wrote:

Ran the M/c yesterday with a Heatsink on the Bios (entire M/C
laid out on the table) and it ran well enuff for a couple of hrs.
I guess that is the answer - - Faulty bios.
Flashed the bios with the latest one from the intel site .
then removed the heatsink - And -- Freeze .

That could just be a dry joint/cracked trace in that area of the motherboard,
affected by mechanically attaching and removing the heatsink.

Previously you said

Noticed one thing when the case was open - The BIOS chip (which is
soldered onto the board) was getting quite hot. And there is no temp
sensor near that chip so this would not get noticed . Planning to put
an old Heatsink I have lying around on this and then check it out .

It would be unusual for a fault to produce a bios chip getting hotter than usual,
particularly as its hard to see how even a bad cap could do that since its
presumably being powered from one of the rails on the ATX connector,
not being derived from the +12V by a voltage regulator on the motherboard
and so a bad cap in that area.

Guess I will have to replace the Mobo.

Thats generally best with a dry joint or cracked trace that isnt obvious.

Guess it might be worth trying a heatsink on the bios inside the case.
Presumably the reason you arent doing that currently is because it
wont fit in the case with the heatsink on it. Its likely possible to get
a smaller one that you can glue on with thermal heatsink glue, but
its more likely to not be relevant so may not be worth the trouble.

Maybe its time to upgrade to dual core

Yeah, good excuse in some ways.


Rod Speed wrote:
abhishek wrote:

Reboot on errors is switched off (One of the first settings I change
after an os install) No blue screens just Freeze & Reboot (

Looks like a motherboard problem given the other
stuff like the lack of anything in the error logs.

Unlikely to be the power supply because unless you have the
bios configured to start on power on, a glitch in the power
supply shouldnt produce a reboot, just a shutdown at most.